July 2004

Is Trafalgar Square doomed to become an avian flu hotspot? New Scientist implies as much in a short piece published last week: "Pigeons could carry H5N1 bird flu into city centres," we read, "increasing the chances of humans being exposed to the virus." But does this tiny factoid mean anything at all – let alone that public squares all over the world will soon act as disease vectors for bird flu's apparently impending sweep through the human genome? If it does mean something, and if pigeons are a major risk for spreading influenza, will we first hear reports of human-human infection coming from hospitals in central London? Again, if so, will the pigeons of Trafalgar Square be to blame? And do infected pigeons mean that Venice's Piazza San Marco is also a European vector for the disease? Or am I just giving away the plot for BLDGBLOG's first feature film...?

The Avian Flu affects tissue deep in the respiratory tract, and would require several significant mutations to spread between humans. This is also why it does not spread from bird to human as easily as some media would have you believe.

Came up with my own solution to this whole Bird Flu thing ages ago. You might want to check it out:https://pigeonblog.wordpress.com/2006/02/26/bird-flu-a-simple-solution/Makes sense, cheap to run - still no-one's picked up on it yet... can't believe it.Your palBrian P

About BLDGBLOG

BLDGBLOG ("building blog") is written by Geoff Manaugh. The opinions expressed here are my own; they do not reflect the views of my friends, editors, employers, publishers, or colleagues, with whom this blog is not affiliated. More.